Chair of C40 calls on largest cities globally to report carbon emissions to CDP

LONDON Nov. 1, 2010 — The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) today announced the launch of the new CDP Cities program, which will provide a system for cities worldwide to report on their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related strategies. CDP Cities, in partnership with the C40 and the Clinton Climate initiative (CCI)*, has asked the largest cities in the world committed to tackling climate change – the 40 member cities and 19 affiliate member cities of the C40 – to voluntarily measure and report to CDP so the cities can proactively manage risks, reduce carbon and further adopt strategies that safeguard the future of cities. London, Toronto and New York have already agreed to report their carbon emissions data to CDP.

“Cities play an essential and leading role in accelerating solutions to climate change and C40 cities are already making a massive impact,” said David Miller, Mayor of Toronto and chair of C40. “CDP will provide a reporting platform that allows C40 cities to track their progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and share that critical data with each other and around the globe.”

Major organizations such as Autodesk, lead sponsor of CDP Cities, as well as Microsoft and Sun Life Financial are supporting this new program. “The cities of tomorrow are being shaped today by governments, businesses and citizens. To create cities that support a better quality of life while minimizing environmental impact, today’s designers need a clear picture of the impact of climate change,” said Jay Bhatt, senior vice president of AEC solutions at Autodesk. “We are delighted to work with the Carbon Disclosure Project to assist in developing a standardized reporting platform for climate change-related information. Autodesk’s design software will help city managers better understand their existing assets, allowing planners to develop strategy for improving the urban environment.”

CDP Cities is today releasing a new report entitled ‘The Case for City Disclosure’, written by Accenture. It details how standard disclosure from local governments can help cities share best practice, manage risk, increase operational effectiveness and cost savings, attract investment, foster innovation and ultimately lead to safer, more prosperous cities. The report can be found at https://www.cdproject.net/en-US/Programmes/Documents/Case-for-City-Disclosure.pdf.

"New York City has tracked greenhouse gas emissions with a detailed inventory – that we make public – since 2006, and we are already seeing real reductions in our carbon emissions," said Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City. "We have to keep the pressure on to continue our progress. The C40’s partnership with CDP will ensure that all member cities have a reliable platform to report emissions. We will never meet the ambitious goals we set as an organization without solid data to measure our progress; as I've always said: if you can't measure it, you can't manage it."

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said: “We know cities are the largest producers of carbon emissions, but it is vital that these outputs are quantified and in the public domain in order to track our progress in reducing them. London's city government is already committed to disclosing a range of data, not just with regard to climate change, to help catalyze change to the benefit of residents. We are happy to continue this as part of our work with the C40.”

The CDP Cities initiative continues to expand CDP’s global climate change data system developed with Accenture, Microsoft and SAP. Disclosing information through CDP’s standard reporting platform is already seen as best practice by thousands of companies around the world. This same CDP disclosure process was used successfully in a 2008 pilot of 18 cities in the United States. This pilot highlighted how action on climate change is, in most cases, at an early stage and so the opportunities ahead to reduce emissions and seize future opportunities are considerable.

CDP Cities allows cities to report both quantitative and qualitative climate change data. Cities can therefore report their greenhouse gas inventories along with contextual information about the unique characteristics of individual cities. This will help cities and a wide range of associated stakeholders to better understand the risks and opportunities associated with climate change.

“CDP has long been a key system through which businesses can evaluate their ability to tackle climate change,” said CDP’s executive chairman Paul Dickinson. “With cities at the forefront of our global response to climate change, it is critical that they have access to the same proven process which can help them to reduce carbon, improve operational efficiency, attract investment and increase clean tech innovations.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

*The Clinton Climate Initiative, a program of the William J. Clinton Foundation, is the delivery partner of the C40 and will, through its network of City Directors, assist C40 cities on the CDP disclosure process.

About the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an independent not-for-profit organization holding the largest database of primary corporate climate change information in the world. Some 3,000 organizations across the world’s largest economies now measure and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies through CDP, in order that they can set reduction targets and make performance improvements. This data is gathered on behalf of 534 institutional investors, with combined assets under management in excess of $64 trillion, as well as purchasing organizations and government bodies and made available for integration into business and policy decision making. For more information visit www.cdproject.net.

About C40

The C40 CitiesClimate Leadership Group (C40) is a group of the world’s largest cities committed to tackling climate change. The current chair of the C40 is Mayor David Miller of Toronto; the chair-elect of the C40 is Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York. The C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group is comprised of the following cities: Addis Ababa, Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Caracas, Chicago, Delhi, Dhaka, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Houston, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Karachi, Lagos, Lima, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, New York City, Paris, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Toronto, Tokyo, and Warsaw. The C40 also has 19 affiliate cities: Amsterdam, Austin, Barcelona, Basel, Changwon, Copenhagen, Curitiba, Heidelberg, Ho Chi Minh City, Milan, New Orleans, Portland, Rotterdam, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Santiago de Chile, Seattle, Stockholm, and Yokohama. The Clinton Climate Initiative is the delivery partner of C40. The C40 also has initiatives with Arup, ECOS and the World Bank Institute.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, the CDP Cities lead sponsor, is committed to helping architects, designers, and engineers worldwide radically transform the built environment. Autodesk will provide software to the CDP Cities program that can help to gather, understand, and share city-wide infrastructure data. Autodesk will continue to offer subject matter expertise with respect to sustainable design for geospatial, civil infrastructure, and architecture.

Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries, including the last 15 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects use Autodesk software. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

The Clinton Climate Initiative, a program of the William J. Clinton Foundation, is the delivery partner of the C40 and will, through its network of City Directors, assist C40 cities on the CDP disclosure process.

The William J. Clinton Foundation launched the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) to create and advance solutions to the core issues driving climate change. Working with governments and businesses around the world to tailor local solutions that are economically and environmentally sustainable, CCI focuses on three strategic program areas: increasing energy efficiency in cities, catalyzing the large-scale supply of clean energy, and working to measure and value the carbon absorbed by forests. In each of these programs, CCI uses a holistic approach to address the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions and the people, policies, and practices that impact them. www.clintonfoundation.org

About Microsoft

Microsoft works closely with leading cities around the world to help them reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact. Microsoft has provided its software platform technology for all aspects of data capture within the CDP system, which will enable companies and cities to report more detailed climate change information. For further information on Microsoft please visit www.microsoft.com